Burger Week Profile: North Light

I was so impressed by the burger I sampled at North Light—and the team I met—that I went back for dinner the very next night. This four-month old restaurant on Mississippi is charging up the ranks, featuring what their website very accurately describes as, "a sophisticated twist on comfort food and drink." Tender, oversized pork shanks, meatloaf, steaks, and salads...but I digress. The burger:

Chef Lyle Jost has assembled a winner: Painted Hills 6oz hand-formed patty (drizzled with brown butter), stuffed with Wisconsin cheese curds, on brown-butter-griddled housemade brioche bun. It's topped with a garlicky housemade kimchi aioli so mellow and rich that it almost comes over like a French leek sauce. Truly original and refined, but big and satisfying. Order it with their potato puffs, or a side of rosemary garlic fries, and a drink from Chris, the expert barman.

Interior view. So rich, so juicy, so buttery-good. Beer not included, but highly recommended.

It would be foolish to leave without dessert(s). Their pastry chef—who is hand-making all the brioche buns for their Burger Week burger—is an ex of Wildwood, and has a beautiful touch for textures and full, harmonious flavors. Think tender frangipane tarts with seasonal fruit and panna cotta, creme fraiche cheesecakes with plump seasonal berries and bright fruit coulis, and the like.

Important reminder: THESE BURGERS WILL SELL OUT. Last year’s restaurants had one main issue with the event last year, and that was people getting angry and rude when they found out that they are part of a reality where restaurants that are getting slammed run out of food. We have better forecasting numbers this year, but please: go early, be kind, get a drink, and, most importantly, a $5 burger is a privilege, not a right. You know what someone who acts like a horse’s ass is? Hint: It has two enormous buttocks and large poops fall out of the middle.